Chapter 1985: Each Has a Position, Finally Seeing the Fortress

So, it is actually not rare news for someone to have a few ancient Elf fortresses in their hands.

Xia Duo had heard too many reports of ancient fortresses and ancient city ruins being discovered in the 【Projection Plane: Evereska Independent】; among the numerous reports, Adofeier was completely unremarkable.

Because no more astonishing news came after that.

Looking at it now, it must have been that Siluwende was intentionally hiding it!

Not every fortress can have War Magic Artifacts discovered within it, let alone a large quantity; only those places that were also important regional strongholds during the Aryvandaar period have such fortresses.

And they must have happened not to be destroyed during the Crown War for it to be possible for later generations to find them.

Perhaps few people knew in the past, but now it is not difficult to reach a conclusion: there actually exists more than one large-scale strategic fortress from the Aryvandaar period within the borders of Siluwende.

The so-called "Seven Fortresses War" might just be a war of interests waged by countries like Siluwende and Yierlan, relying on the seven strategic fortresses left behind by Aryvandaar.

The Demon Descendant might just be an excuse.

It is hard to imagine that, given the intensity of the Crown War where cities were slaughtered and nations destroyed at every turn, Siluwende still had more than one Aryvandaar strategic fortress hidden here that had not been destroyed.

Now that Xia Duo already knows the accurate information about one of these fortresses, the next time he enters the Projection Plane, if the time node is just right, perhaps he can go there for a "rescue excavation."

Isn't this much more comfortable than fighting to the death in the Main Plane!

……

"By the way!"

Xia Duo suddenly thought of a question, so he hurriedly asked Naris again, "You just said 'Adofeier only recently appeared in the world,' does that mean it didn't exist before?"

"Yes."

Regarding this type of question, Naris naturally had a prepared explanation long ago, "More than a thousand years ago, after the Seven Fortresses War ended, Adofeier disappeared. We originally thought it was destroyed in the war; we didn't expect it to reappear now. It is just a pity that after more than a thousand years, we have long since lost the relevant Permission Level for Adofeier, otherwise it wouldn't have been used by Yierlan as an excuse to provoke a war."

"That is indeed a pity," Xia Duo casually echoed.

Of course, he did not feel it was a pity that Siluwende did not hold the fortress's Permission Level, but rather that he could not have obtained this news sooner; otherwise, he could have scouted the situation in advance while in the Projection Plane.

Perhaps he could have used this to take over that fortress intact in the Main Plane!

On this point, Xia Duo actually somewhat agreed with Yierlan's statement; Naris said Adofeier is a newly rebuilt fortress, but is it really so?

Sentient beings will always intentionally or unintentionally defend their own positions; the same fact may appear as one situation to the proponent, and as an entirely different situation to the opponent.

Regardless of whether that fortress belongs to a reconstruction, it should not belong to the current Siluwende. This is of course very unfair, but Xia Duo also has his own position.

His position is undoubtedly this—under the premise of certain rules, suppress potential competitors as much as possible, or create trouble for competitors, thereby winning more time for his own development.

Even if it is cooperation, it is on the premise of fulfilling one's own overall situation; without this premise, cooperation has no meaning at all.

Since Naris himself admitted that the fortress might possess a large number of War Magic Artifacts, then it must not be handed over to Siluwende, so as not to fuel its unnecessary ambitions.

This does not conflict with Xia Duo's philosophy of seeking common ground while reserving differences; one is a philosophy, the other is reality.

Xia Duo, or rather Netheril, has more of a conflict of interests with Yierlan, but it is a conflict of philosophies with Siluwende. As long as Siluwende is given a chance, it will almost certainly become an enemy in the future.

In this situation, how could Xia Duo possibly be polite to them? Naturally, he would suppress them however he could. If it weren't for the worry that the Demon Descendant might change history because of this, he would never have thought about preserving the other party.

……

Suddenly, Xia Duo thought that the entry timing he had been looking for since entering the borders of Siluwende would likely fall upon that Adofeier Fortress.

Thinking of this, Xia Duo proposed to Naris that he wanted to go see Adofeier Fortress. Regarding this, Naris even agreed immediately without contacting his superiors:

"Currently, Adofeier is not yet under our control; we can only head to a nearby city first, and then travel by Magic Ship."

"Magic Ship? Is Adofeier Fortress built by the water?" Xia Duo asked curiously.

"No, it is the kind of Magic Ship that flies in the sky!"

At this moment, Naris said with a proud face: "I heard that Netheril has recently developed a brand-new mode of transportation called an 'Airship'; Siluwende naturally has similar means."

"Oh? Is that so?"

At this moment, Xia Duo could not help but suspect that the other party knew the concept of Netheril's Airship was originally proposed by him, which is why they were showing off like this.

And when he passed through the Portal again and saw the Magic Ship Naris spoke of on the outskirts of a small city, he confirmed once again that the other party was indeed showing off.

This Magic Ship was clearly a vessel for sailing on water, forcibly endowed with the ability to float and fly; in essence, it was no different from the more common flying carpets or flying discs.

With a Floating City in hand, Xia Duo even felt it was a bit beneath him to board such a crude flying device, but he still boarded the ship. On one hand, it was to follow the host's lead, and on the other, he wanted to take the opportunity to observe the design concepts of the Magic Ship.

Setting aside the clumsy, crude, and tacked-on levitation spells, this Magic Ship, which was over a hundred meters long, was still very worth seeing.

Siluwende is not a coastal country; besides the few river sections where such large ships can indeed be used, more of it is probably due to that Aryvandaar style that they cannot imitate well!

A sophisticated Magic Item itself contains sophisticated spell design, and even Magic Principles. The Netheril Magic System is not like the Elven Magic System, which matured very early.

The current Netheril Magic System is still an emerging magic system that needs constant exploration and constant improvement, but exploration is so difficult. If one can draw lessons from other systems and draw inferences about other cases, it can save a lot of trouble.

Having already had a system framework, there is no need to worry about being overly influenced by other systems, leading to the loss of one's own characteristics.

……

On the Magic Ship.

Xia Duo walked around observing, while the guide Naris still stuck to his task, following by Xia Duo's side, introducing every little detail of the Magic Ship to Xia Duo, his words occasionally revealing a proud expression.

"Lord Xia Duo, these are water-resistance chambers. Water-resistance spells are permanently fixed inside. Even if the ship encounters an accident, it can ensure it floats on the water."

"Mm, mm." Xia Duo nodded repeatedly, then tucked the so-called "water-resistance spell" into his pocket.

Similar situations occurred in every corner of the Magic Ship, but in the end, Xia Duo also realized something: Siluwende should be intentionally currying favor with him.

Otherwise, even if Naris had the heart to show off, he could not have allowed him to run to every corner of the Magic Ship to observe at will, not only without stopping him but even thoughtfully providing explanations.

But unfortunately, for sugar-coated bullets, Xia Duo will only accept the sugar coating and not the bullet.

……

Soon, the staff on the Magic Ship reminded them that Adofeier had arrived.

And Xia Duo had long since projected his Perception outside the ship's hull, observing all the way while flying. At this time, when the Magic Ship stopped, he was actually quite confused, because he did not see any traces of a fortress.

There was only a small, undeveloped forest, and a few temporary buildings on the edge of the forest.

"This is Adofeier Fortress?"

With doubts, Xia Duo arrived on the ground, but what he did not expect was that he actually saw a group of unexpected Elves here.